In My Own Backyard!

Don’t be too quick to jump on the Maryland bandwagon. Governor O’Malley may be pushing for the legalization of gay marriage here (and, it looks as if it has a real shot of passing!), but then there’s madness like this. At Albert Einstein High School, literally a 20-minute drive from my house, a group that calls themselves PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays) sent home a flyer with the students’ report card that basically tells its LGBT students that “you weren’t born that way” and, once again, “we can help you change”.

Their flyer is carefully worded as to not give the impression that it’s religion-motivated. We know better. In the flyer, they allege that “every year, thousands of people make the decision…” to no longer be LGBT. In an attempt to mock the LGBT community, they cite: “…formerly gay men and women are discriminated against simply because they dare to exist.” “Thousands”! And, again, I’m completely ok with them having their opinions. That’s their right under our Constitution. However, to force-feed it to the students of Einstein represents a collapse in moral responsibility. At a time in their lives where they’re already struggling to figure out who they are and how they fit into society, at a time where some are definitely questioning their sexuality or, worse, beginning to feel confident with it, P-FOX has thrown a monkey wrench of uncertainty into the picture. Instead of doing things that will help these students grow and become confident, productive adults, they opted to send the message “if you’re LGBT, you’re defected. But, don’t worry, We can fix you!! It’s your choice.” Maybe, P-FOX needs to be reminded that just last month, the leader of Exodus (the largest ex-gay farce in this country), Alan Chambers, announced that no one changes their sexual orientation. He admitted that it was a farce. In his own words, “99.9” of the people in his group didn’t become “ex-gay”. Another of the co-founders of Exodus, Michael Bussee, went as far as to write this very revealing, very honest letter of apology. Please take the time to read it.

What did happen, however, was there were suicides because of his program and the confusion it caused. There were people left with emotional damage after being forced to believe that they were defective in some way, that their natural orientation was wrong.

Groups like P-FOX are now sprouting up around the country even as the ex-founder of Exodus has made it clear that it was basically a 20-year scam that he was running. Infamous politician, Michele Bachmann, is married to a man who is making a mint off of one of those “ex-gay” “therapy” farces. And, now it’s here in my own backyard. I don’t like it.

Albert Einstein school officials, and the Montgomery County School Board made sure to distance themselves from this debacle with this disclaimer: “These materials were neither endorsed nor sponsored by the Board of Education of Montgomery County, the superintendent, or this school.” Smart move.

To contact P-FOX and voice your opinion, you can reach them on their website. Let them know that what they’re doing is wrong.